Pinal County Supervisor Lionel D. Ruiz

The San Manuel Miner staff asked Ruiz about the matter and published a note at the end of the piece.  A copy of the note follows: 
 

On Feb. 11 the Oracle Historical Society Board of Directors wrote a letter to the editor of the Miner to provide clarification of the material presented in the note. 

Gayle Carnes, Managing Editor of The San Manuel Miner said that the letter would not be printed in the Feb. 13 edition as it exceed the space limit of 200 words for letters to the editor. 

A transcription of the OHS letter to the Miner follows.

At its regular monthly meeting yesterday, February 10, the Oracle Historical Society (OHS) Board of Directors, by unanimous vote, authorized me to write this letter in reference to the article in last week's Miner regarding the lease of Oracle's Wood Field.  The front-page story by J.C. Huntington was accurate in terms of OHS involvement.  However, your note at the end of the article misstates this organization's participation and requires some factual correction.  The following summarizes the OHS/Pinal County interactions over historic Wood Field:
 

01/17/2000	Letter from OHS to Lionel Ruiz, reviewing history of Wood Field and expressing interest in leasing the property from Pinal County.
02/08/2000	Letter from Lionel Ruiz to OHS stating the "process has been started to lease Oracle Bus Yard to OHS" and inviting OHS to send representative(s) to the Board of Supervisors' hearing.
02/14/2000	Letter from OHS to Lionel Ruiz, affirming OHS interest in sending representative(s) and requesting notification of the date of the hearing.
02/24/2000	Letter from Lionel Ruiz to OHS, stating he is evaluating a request from the Oracle Softball group and will "make a final determination at a later date."
02/27/2000	Letter from OHS to Lionel Ruiz, thanking him for a previous phone conversation, clarifying OHS's intentions re Wood Field property and enclosing minutes of OHS Board Meeting at which the issue of Wood Field was first discussed.
04/07/2000	OHS phone conversation with Lionel Ruiz in which Mr. Ruiz states he will "talk to County Attorney to get rolling."
04/18/2000	OHS conversation with Lionel Ruiz at Oracle Oaks Festival at which time Mr. Ruiz stated the transfer would happen and the procedure was with the Pinal County Manager.
09/07/2000	Letter from OHS to Pinal County Manager checking status of lease.
09/26/2000	Letter from Pinal County Attorney to OHS identifying the Deputy County Attorney assigned responsibility for drafting lease documents, and requesting a meeting with OHS to discuss specific lease provisions.
10/13/2000	OHS meeting with Pinal County Attorney.
10/10/2000	OHS phone conversation with Pinal County Attorney, in which Deputy County Attorney affirms Lionel Ruiz wants to have the 25 year lease in place by the first of next year, and defines conditions that must be fulfilled by OHS first: 1) determination of use; 2) appraisal of property; and 3) liability insurance coverage.
10/29/2000	OHS e-mail to Pinal County Attorney with updates on appraisal , liability insurance coverage and intended use information; requests meeting.
01/03/2001	OHS fax and attachments to Pinal County Attorney including property valuation, intended use, and liability coverage.
04/07/2001	Draft lease from Pinal COunty Attorney reviewed by OHS Board of Directors.
04/13/2001	OHS e-mail to Pinal County Attorney requesting clarifications in draft lease.
05/24/2001	Pinal County Attorney e-mail to OHS responding to request for clarification.
09/08/2001	OHS e-mail to Pinal County Attorney regarding issues requiring remedy prior to final draft of lease.

These events contradict your published statements that "upon discovering that OHS had taken no action on Wood Field lease in well over a year, a lack of interest on the part of OHS was assumed," and that "OHS's paperwork was just going through" at the time the agenda item was removed at the January 16 Board of Supervisors meeting.  If these remarks were attributed to Lionel Ruiz it was unclear from your story. Regardless, the chronology speaks for itself.

Had Lionel Ruiz truly "checked into the matter further to see if OHS was still interested," he would have learned that the Pinal County Attorney's office had prepared and sumbitted the final version of the lease, that OHS had signed and returned the lease with full payment to Pinal County, that the lease had been published by Pinal County as required by state statute, and Pinal County had billed OHS for publication costs.  He certainly never contacted OHS to see if it was still interested.

The Oracle Historical Society is a public organization that has served our communities for over twenty-five years.  OHS will continue its mission "to preserve historical artifacts and properties; to educate to encourage awareness and appreciation of the unique culteral-historical heritage of the community of Oracle and surrounding areas; and to promote alliances that enhance the Society's ability to influence the future by honoring the past."  To this end, we will watch with interest how Pinal County maintains historic Wood Field. 

Sincerely, 
 

Andrew Rush, President
Oracle Historical Society. Inc.

Oracle Historical Society to lose; Wood Field to be given to CPGD
By J.C. Huntington

Pinal County Supervisor Lionel D. Ruiz stunned the Oracle Historical Society (OHS) board of directors by informing them he would not honor an agreement, two years in the making, to lease a small parcel of land to OHS but would instead award the lease to another group.

Wood Field is situated in Oracle at the intersection of John Adams road and the Mt. Lemmon Highway and was donated by Elizabeth Lambert Wood, a resident of Oracle in the early part of the last century.

The Oracle Historical Society (OHS) has been working with the county for 2 years to finalize the lease agreement with the county so as to use Wood Field for sports and recreational activities benefiting Oracle youth.

In December, Pinal County sent the final agreement to the OHS board of directors for their approval. 

The OHS board reviewed the lease agreement, accepted it and on Dec. 18, sent the signed and notarized agreement back to county for approval at the Jan 16 meeting of the Pinal supervisors. 

Public notices from Pinal County announcing that the lease agreement would come before the supervisors at their Jan 16 meeting ran in all the weekend editions of The Casa Grande Dispatch throughout December. 

Expecting the agreement to be finalized, the OHS board last month established a Heritage Park/Wood Field Committee and discussed ways to have the entire Oracle community participate in deciding how to best use the site for Oracle youth.

But the OHS agreement with the county never came before the supervisors at their Jan 16 meeting. 

Supervisor Ruiz had the item removed from the Jan. 16 meeting agenda. 

After receiving Ruiz's letter reneging on the deal, OHS board member Harmon called Deputy County Attorney Glenn Johnson and asked why the lease agreement item had been pulled from the Jan. 16 agenda.  Johnson told Harmon that Ruiz had Pinal County Manager Stanley Griffis delete it.

Johnson had worked with OHS on the agreement for almost a year-and-half, since Ruiz had directed him to do so in Sept. of 2000. 

On Jan 17, the day after having Griffis remove the OHS lease item from the supervisors’ agenda, Ruiz wrote a letter to the OHS board informing them that "he had no choice" but to give the lease to another organization because OHS had shown no interest in the property. 

Ruiz's letter failed to describe why awarding the lease to "the other organization" would provide more benefit to Oracle than the originally agreed to lease with OHS.

Ruiz's letter also failed to identify the other organization that would get the lease, but Ruiz said that the group had been in "constant contact" with him.

Deputy county attorney Johnson told Harmon that Ruiz planned to give the lease to the Citizens for Positive Growth and Development (CPGD).

CPGD is a young group, having been formed just 6 months ago by Oracle resident Elaine Helzer. 

Helzer's husband, Elwin, works for the Pinal Planning and Zoning department.

According to The Tucson Daily Star, initial funding for CPGD came from Anam Inc. and Robson Communities, Inc., two corporations seeking to build two very large residential developments in Ruiz's district. 

Anam is trying to take care of rezoning and other technical details so as to be able to sell 4,700 acres of their land near the Oracle Junction area to home building companies.  The project is called Willow Springs. 

A month after forming CPGD, Helzer teamed with Anam Inc., and the two filed a lawsuit seeking to invalidate the referendum petition to allow voters to consider the Anam rezoning at the ballot box.

Robson Communities Inc. wants to build their 2,500-acre SaddleBrooke Ranch project directly adjacent to the Page-Trowbrige radioactive/toxic waste dump a few miles to the east of Oracle Junction.

Over 11,000 signatures were collected in two referendum actions to allow voters to consider the rezoning for the Anam/Robson projects at the next general election.

OHS was formed 25 years ago and is a non-political, community-based organization with approximately 150 members. 

OHS, a member of the Arizona Historical Society, preserved the Acadia Museum and the American Flag Ranch, both of which are listed on the National Register of Historical Places.

The OHS board of directors, past and present, includes a wide range of business, educational, professional and cultural leaders of the area.

Over its 25-year lifetime, OHS meetings have always been open to the public as OHS encourages public participation.

In a letter to Ruiz, dated Jan 28, the OHS board expressed their "total surprise and deep disappointment" with his decision. 

Attached to the letter was a three page summary of all the interactions between the county and OHS on the Wood Field matter over the last two years. 

The last item on the summary is dated Jan. 22 and notes the receipt of a bill from Pinal County asking OHS to reimburse the county for publishing the public notices announcing the OHS lease would be considered at the Jan 16 supervisors meeting.

In their letter, the OHS board asked Ruiz to assure that the organization chosen to lease Wood Field would involve the community in deciding how it is used.  The OHS board asked Ruiz to assure that the organization chosen for the lease "be required to hold open meetings, collect community input . . .and adhere to the highest standards of public and community accountability that the Oracle Historical Society has met for over 25 years."

On Jan 31, Oracle resident Ellie Mattausch called CPGD founder Elaine Helzer and asked if the CPDG meetings were open to the public. 

Helzer told Mattausch that only CPGD members were allowed in the meetings because "we don't want dissenter's."

"Our meetings are not open to the public.  If you are in favor of what we're doing, your welcome to join the group," Helzer said. 

On Jan 28, Andrew Rush, OHS president and Betty Harmon, OHS board member, met with Ruiz to discuss his decision. 

Ruiz stood by his letter of Jan 17, in which Ruiz claims he "had no choice" but to give the lease to CPGD because there had been "no correspondence or show of interest" by OHS in Wood Field for two years.

Note: According to Ruiz, he was approached by CPGD about the land and advised them he knew that there was another group that it had been set aside for, but would check into the matter further to see if they were still interested.

Upon discovering that OHS had taken no action on Wood Field lease in well over a year, a lack of interest on the part of OHS was assumed and CPGD was advised what they could have to do to even be considered for the lease.

At the time of the removal of the agenda item from the Jan 16 meeting, CPGD had already completed the process for lease acceptance.  OHS's paperwork was just going through.  The agenda item was inaccurate.

Ruiz said that it was a miscommunication on the part of the staff and the county attorney's.